I have been fortunate to make a career of my passion for hospitality business. I have been privileged and given the opportunity, to travel to exciting destinations round the world, working with nice people, meeting interesting personalities, enjoying fabulous food, and staying in great places. Yes, I am an hotelier at heart. I had the privilege of managing  hotels for a number of years in Asia and Middle East.

Young professionals, graduating students, have asked me the secret of success, to get a top job, preferably as fast as possible. They wonder why aren’t people jumping at the chance to offer the best opportunity in their company?

The problem is that nowadays many jobseekers and young employees are used to seeing instant success stories in the media. They have come to expect the same for their career advancement. Secondly, employers complain that many of them are more interested in ‘what a job can do for them – not what they have to offer an employer’.

Such an attitude won’t get you very far!

On average, it takes 10-20 years to groom a talented individual into a competent general manager of a flagship hotel in a major city or top resort destination.

Here is some advice I learnt along the way in my career:

• First need to be passionate about the things you do. It is a marathon, not a sprint. The fuel you need is passion!
• Be a good listener, and always have an open mind.
• Strong analytical skills and good communication skills to persuade or influence others are also important.
• Be open to learn every day, and it does not have to be in the classroom, but from people smarter than me. They way I learnt, was by asking questions and express interest in what other people do. I also was open to do any job, in a hotel. The jobs I held were receptionist, reservation agent, bar supervisor, kitchen steward, waiter to restaurant manager in different styles of restaurants, ranging from fine dining to fast food. Later on I was given more responsibility to be assistant manager, executive assistant manager of a hotel divisio and eventually senior management roles.
• Make every person you meet, feel they are special.
• Luck in being in the right place at the right time. Sometimes you can create your ¨luck¨, but not always.

So what has this all to do with my meeting with the legendary photographer Bob Gruen? In fact quite a bit, Bob is a fabulous photographer who captured the spirit of freedom in an era of rock bands  and new wave bands of the seventies and eighties, with his iconic photographs. Many of his photos ended up as posters in teenager’s bedrooms. He is an incredible down to earth person, and passionate what he do, and obviously master in his craft. He was at the right time at the right place, and developed close friendship with people who were difficult to approach due to their celebrity status, or in the beginning of their careers.

The couple of hours listening to Bob Gruen fascinating stories while we viewed his iconic photographs in the exhibition hall, made me realize that passion takes you a long way, in what ever you are chosen to do, and more importantly they way you go about it. I walked way thinking, we did not choose the industry we are in , the industry chose us.

www.bobgruen.com